Day 47–50, The Gibb River Road (12th Aug–15th Aug)

The Gibb River Road

We headed off this morning heading toward Broome, we hadn't really decided  where our first stopover would be but had decided that Home Valley which was only 70 kilometers was too close, we will see how far we get.

The Pentecost River 

Crossing The Pentecost

Not far out of El Questro we came to the Pentecost River, it's the one on all the post cards, there was a little queue on both sides with people taking photo's and preparing themselves for the crossing.

The river was wide but looked very shallow, and it looks to have a hard rocky base, I think that currently the crossing could be made in just about any car.

As suspected the crossing was very easy, when we got almost to the other side I jumped out and ran ahead to get a photo which may have held a couple of people up for a minute or two.

Once across the other side I opened my window to apologise to a group who where waiting to cross, as it turns out its lucky they did stop and get out of the car or they wouldn't have noticed the flat tyre they had on the camper trailer.

Back on the road again the road remained in very good condition, recently graded, almost no  corrugations and no rocks, that of course didn't stop us from getting a puncture !.
The wheel changed without any issues, and we were off again.

Drysdale River Station

Drysdale Station camping

We decided to drive to Drysdale River Station and stay there a couple of nights and arrived there mid afternoon, you have to turn off the Gibb North up Kalumburru road, its 60 kilometers up the road which was also in very good condition. 

The camp grounds at the homestead are pretty good, fires are allowed, drinking water available, and some shady spots to camp.

There is also a little shop with basic supplies, a bar and restaurant which is pretty nice but pricey for drinks and food, we did have drinks there though which went down well.

The Bar and Restaurant

There is no where to swim at the homestead but they have a bush camp 5 kilometers up the road and there is a swimming hole there, we went for a look but the water was not inviting at all, it was muddy and not quite stagnant yet.

Local Beer, YUK !

Drysdale Station Shop

We stayed here for two nights intending to go up to Mitchel Plateau but it sounded like the road up there was too bad so elected not to go.

While here we got the tyre fixed, cost $60.00, not bad really considering where we are, the old bloke who did the tyre for us was telling me that at the Ellenbrae station they do 65 tyre repairs a week.

All in all if you were not heading to Kalumburru or the Mitchell Plateau I would give Drysdale a miss, there are nicer places to stay along the Gibb. 

Manning Gorge

The next stop for us was Manning Gorge, the camp ground is 20 kilometers in off the Gibb at Mt Barnett Roadhouse, a very, very rough track into the campground.

At the Roadhouse there is a pretty good shop with a good range of basic food and other necessities, you can also fill the water tanks with good drinking water, get what you need before you go in, you wont want to drive in and out too many times.

It is at the roadhouse that you pay your camping fees, cant remember off hand what the cost was but it wasn't expensive.

Manning Gorge Camp Ground Swimming Hole

The camp grounds a nice, if you get there early enough and a bit lucky you will find a couple of camp sites right near the swimming hole which is awesome,we were both early, and lucky and our spot was only 50 meters from the water. 

The swimming hole was just amazing, crystal clear water, not cold at all only a few meters away.

The walk to the gorge itself starts by pulling yourself across the creek in a punt, or you can swim across, we did the relatively easy walk in about 45 minutes, but I would advise doing it as early in the morning as you can as there is very little shade along the way.

Manning Gorge

Swimming at Manning Gorge

 

The Gorge was very nice and well worth the walk, the boys swam there as they do wherever they can, but there were not too many places there to swim with easy access into the water, lots of rocks and deep water.

The local aboriginals like the water hole too, one afternoon a group came down for a swim, a couple of the young aboriginal boys pointed out a fresh water croc to our boys, then before they left those same boys thought it would be funny to pull the rope off the pulley that operates the punt across the creek, I don't think the group of tourists on the other side saw the humor in it though.

The same group of aboriginals, 15 in number then piled into a Toyota land cruiser for the trip home, 10 inside the car and 5 of the smallest kids on the roof rack, LOL. 

We had a couple of nice nights at Manning Gorge, highlight was the swimming hole right at the camp site, downside was the track in, but definitely worth it.

Silent Grove

We stopped in at Silent Grove intending to stay a couple of nights and see Bell Gorge, the camp grounds are nice but nowhere to swim here, unfortunately we hadn't realised that we had no cash to pay for the second night ( no eftpos out here ), funnily enough the family next to us was in exactly the same boat as us.

We had a family discussion and decided to change our plans a little, were going to go to Windjana Gorge from here but would have the same issue there so we decided to drive to Derby, see that, then double back to Windjana, Tunnel Creek, and Fitzroy Crossing.

I think it turned out for the better as we were all a bit Gorged out, and had had our fill off red dust and cold showers, some relative luxury for a couple of days would be nice.

The next morning we headed of up the Gibb towards Derby, the road from Silent Grove to Derby was pretty good, it was about 200 kilometers, and a fair bit of it was sealed.